Posts Tagged ‘cocktails’
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I have been totally fail at posting new cocktails, and I have a bunch, only now I have so many that I don’t even remember what-all I put in some of them. Two of them were good, too. One had gin, muddled stevia and pluots, but I don’t remember what else.
But here are drinks from this weekend.
On Friday, I did something I almost never do, and mixed a drink from a magazine. It was a drink from this month’s Food & Wine, made with Hendricks, arugula, lime, and agave. I mixed it for two reasons: one, because it had arugula in it; and two, because it accompanied an article that reflected a lot of my own thoughts about bartending (and particularly my thoughts on the pretentiousness of the term “mixologist” and the unsettling trend of people putting things in drinks purely as a type of liquid oneupmanship as opposed to making something that tastes good. I wasn’t fond of the agave, and think it’s just not really the right sweetener for gin, but the arugula was really nice.
On Saturday, I made this:
Basil Negroni
This isn’t quite a negroni with basil in it; it’s a little bit off a traditional negroni recipe and has a sort of duskier flavor.
Ingredients for two drinks
6 oz gin
1 oz Campari
1 oz port wine
1/2 oz Grapefruit bitters
About 20 leaves basil, plus two pretty sprigs with blossoms
Instructions
Put everything in a shaker with ice, except basil flowers
Muddle until basil is bruised
Shake
Strain into two chilled cocktail glasses, add flowers for garnish
On Sunday, I started out my day by infusing a bottle of gin I wasn’t too thrilled with with lavender. We’ll see how it comes along next week.
Then I made this:
Elderfields Road
Elderfields Road is the name of the street my father grew up on. This drink is a variation on a Manhattan, and since he grew up right outside the city, I thought that was appropriate, considering the major ingredient here.
Ingredients for 2 cocktails
6 oz bourbon
Juice of 1 lime
2 oz elderberry syrup (homemade)
1 oz red vermouth
2 splashes blood orange bitters
Instructions:
Mix everything but the bitters together in a shaker with ice and shake
Pour into two chilled cocktail glasses, add bitters
Comment
This cocktail has a story.
Last night, when Rina came over, I offered to make her a drink. She said she liked Manhattans and drinks of that ilk, so I pulled out some bourbon and vermouth (Punt E Mes is my red vermouth of choice).
While I was doing this, I opened up a bottle of Fernet-Branca and asked her to smell it, toying with the idea of mixing it into the drink. But Fernet-Branca is one of those things that people either love or hate, so I didn’t want to put it in the drink if she wasn’t going to like it.
She took a sniff, and said “that smells like my childhood!”
Rina went on to talk about her Italian family and their cakes, which, and I agree from my experience with my Italian family, are always covered in delicious icing, but when you get to the cake part, it’s always drenched in liquor to the point that for a child who is craving sugary sweetness, it’s inedible.
So I made her a drink. Tonight, I remade the drink for my mother, who said it was “a better Manhattan.” It’s not as sweet, and the Fernet-Branca is a much more sophisticated flavor than, oh, maraschino cherries.
Here it is for you:
Ingredients:
3 oz bourbon (I used Eagle Rare last night, Buffalo Trace tonight)
1 oz red vermouth (Punt E Mes)
1/2 oz Fernet-Branca
Instructions:
–Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice, shake
–Serve in a chilled martini glass
(easy!)
In other proportions, served on the rocks or shaved ice, this is called a Fanciulli Cocktail, but I use a lot more bourbon here. And no ice.
So, man, it’s been almost a week and I haven’t told you all about the new addition to my family!
The bees are so friendly and happy! I love having them in the garden! They buzz around all day working hard and then they sleep at night and when you open the hive, the honey smells like cinnamon!
We will have honey in September! In the meantime, we still have honey from the people who gave us the bees!
I used the honey to make three cocktails this weekend! Here they are!
1) Ginger Bee
Ingredients for Two Cocktails
6 oz Pyrat XO Reserve Rum
1/2 oz honey
1 oz Cointreau
Ten leaves Cinnamon Basil plus two sprigs of flowers for garnish
1-2 oz candied ginger chunks plus two chunks for garnish
Instructions
Add honey, ginger and basil to shaker with ice and muddle well
Add rum and cointreau, shake
Pour into two chilled cocktail glasses, add basil sprigs and ginger
2) Bee Leg Fizz
(This is a variation on a Bootleg Fizz, but with bees! And de-highballed!)
Ingredients for Two Cocktails
6 oz Greylock Gin
Juice from one Meyer Lemon
1/4 cup chopped lavender plus two sprigs lavender for garnish
1/2 oz honey
1/2 oz lavender syrup
1/4 cup stiffly whipped egg whites
Instructions
Add honey, syrup, lemon juice, and lavender to shaker with ice, muddle
Add gin and egg white, shake like crazy
Pour into two chilled cocktail glasses, garnish with lavender sprigs.
3) Spicy Bee
Ingredients for 2 drinks
6 oz Dogfish Head Jin
1/4 cup fresh chopped mint, plus two sprigs for garnish
1/2 oz honey
1/2 oz dry vermouth
6 rings oil-packed deep fried hot peppers, plus 2 for garnish
Instructions
Add mint, honey, and peppers to shaker with ice and muddle
Add gin and vermouth, shake
Pour into chilled cocktail glasses, add mint and pepper garnish
Man, it’s been a busy week with a dearth of updates. Not because there’s nothing to say, but because I’ve been doing so much stuff!
A few months ago, my old high school friends Jo and Amy (Yeah, I should have been named Meg or Beth) emailed me to ask if I wanted to judge a bolognese cookoff between the two of them and Jo’s dad, Ian.
I said sure, as long as my mom could judge, too (my parents are friends with Jo’s parents, even though they didn’t actually become friends until after we graduated from high school). My mom, in turn, invited everyone up to the house in Connecticut.
The bolognese cookoff quickly became a mini-event. Jo’s husband Erik and I are both amateur bartenders and decided to each make an Italian-themed cocktail for the event. I also made dessert, and my mother made homemade pasta dough, which Jo’s dad, Ian, turned into delicious homemade noodles.
Sadly, Amy was sick and couldn’t make it, even though she was the only one encouraging smack talk via email. But she did send her sauce along to try.
Ian won the cookoff, but of course his sauce is the only one I didn’t take pictures of actually on the noodles.
First come cocktails, then come pics.
1) Erik’s Artichoke-Cherry Punch
This is totally my first ever guest cocktail! Erik uses slightly different measurements than I do so I am keeping his drink according to his own recipe:
Ingredients for 1 cocktail:
1 wedge blood orange or regular orange for garnish
2/3 jigger Cynar
1/2 jigger Maraschino
1/4 jigger Grappa
5-6 oz unsweetened fresh lemonade
ice
Instructions:
Mix Cynar, Maraschino, & Grappa in highball glass over ice
Add lemonade
Add orange wedge
Erik is also looking for suggestions for a better name than “Artichoke-Cherry Punch” if you have one you would like to recommend.
2) Hibiscus Negroni
Ingredients for 2 cocktails:
4 oz gin (I used Bombay Sapphire)
2 oz red vermouth (I used Punt E Mes)
2 oz Campari
2 oz hibiscus syrup*
2 canned hibiscus blossoms
2 slices of orange
Instructions
Mix all ingredients but hibiscus blossoms in a pitcher over ice
Place hibiscus blossoms in the bottom of two chilled old fashioned glasses
Add liquor
Garnish with orange
Next, massive massive photos of delicious food! Click on the cut to see!
↓ Read the rest of this entry…
The first two of these are similar drinks that were made with fresh herbs from the garden along a similar theme, the second one is…not!
1)Fairy Time
Ingredients for two drinks
6 oz D H Krahn gin
1/2 oz absinthe
1/2 oz simple syrup
1/4 cup fresh thyme
1/4 oz dry vermouth
1 Meyer Lemon
Instructions
Reserve 2 half-moon slices of lemon
Put lemon juice, syrup, and thyme in shaker with ice, muddle until thyme is bruised
Add gin & absinthe, shake
Coat 2 chilled cocktail glasses with vermouth, pour out excess
Strain contents of shaker into glasses
Add lemon to garnish
2) Scarborough Fair
Ingredients for 2 cocktails
6 oz Miller’s Gin
1 oz Acacia Honey
1 oz Lavender Syrup
1 oz Dry Vermouth
1 Meyer Lemon
2 tbs cup fresh parsley plus two sprigs
2 tbs cup fresh sage
2 tbs cup fresh rosemary
2 tbs cup fresh thyme
1/4 oz St Germain
Instructions
Reserve 2 half-moon slices of lemon
Cut remainder of lemon into wedges
Put fresh herbs, honey, syrup, and lemon wedges in shaker with ice and muddle until herbs are bruised
Add gin & vermouth, shake
Coat 2 chilled cocktail glasses with St Germain, discard excess
Pour contents of shaker into glasses, garnish with lemon and parsley
3)Strawberry-Chili Margarita
Ingredients for 2 drinks
7 oz tequila
2 oz cointreau
2 limes
5 medium-large strawberries
1 chili pepper, or 2 halves of 2 different chili peppers
Margarita salt (1 Tbs salt, 1 Tbs sugar, 1 sprinkle chili pepper)
Instructions:
Slice pepper into rings. Set aside some rings for garnish.
Set aside 2 half moon slices of lime for garnish
Put remaining peppers in tequila over ice, let sit 5 minutes
Cut up 3 strawberries into small chunks, add to tequila and peppers and stir well
Add cointreau & lime juice, stir well
Rim 2 chilled cocktail glasses with margarita salt
Strain contents of pitcher into glasses, add strawberries, lime slices, and pepper slices for garnish.
And now, DESSERT!
Rhubarb Bread Pudding (Thanks, ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
shinyredtype with homemade Rhubarb Ice Cream with Cream
Ingredients for Bread Pudding
4 cups plain white rolls or bread cut into cubes
2 cups chopped fresh rhubarb boiled in 1 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar until syrupy
1 1/2 cups chopped raw rhubarb
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Layer a 2″ deep 8×8 pan with bread
Add 1 Tbs butter in pieces
Sprinkle 2 Tbs brown sugar
Add rhubarb and cooked rhubarb evenly
Mix the eggs, milk, remaining brown sugar and vanilla and pour on top
Add remaining bread to top
Let soak for 1 hour
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes
Ingredients for Ice Cream
3 stalks rhubarb boiled with 1 cup water and 1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup 2/3 light cream
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Chill cooked rhubarb mixture
Put rhubarb mixture in food processor and process until smooth
Add cream
Whip eggs to stiff peaks
Fold eggs gently into cream & rhubarb mixture
Add to ice cream maker and follow ice cream maker instructions.
Yum!